Water Stewardship: Attributes of Collaborative Partnerships between Mining Companies and Communities
1
UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
2
Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Water 2018, 10(8), 1081; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081081
Received: 10 July 2018
/
Revised: 2 August 2018
/
Accepted: 9 August 2018
/
Published: 14 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Stewardship in Mining Regions)
With many of the world’s largest mines operating in jurisdictions of water scarcity, competition for water has become a frequent source of tension between mining companies and other water users. Water stewardship is, therefore, becoming an important strategy for the mining sector to address stakeholder concerns and earn social acceptance. Collaborative partnerships between mining and other water users are a necessary component of advancing water stewardship, but the attributes needed to implement a successful water stewardship strategy are understudied. This paper addresses this gap by examining two exploratory case studies in Peru and Mongolia, where collaboration has been used as a strategy for promoting more sustainable outcomes in water-scarce regions. The findings suggest that while questions remain about who is best suited to lead collaborative partnerships, trust in the entity responsible for leading collaborative partnerships (especially in situations of high conflict) and a willingness to allow each partner to play to their strengths are critical attributes of success. We conclude that the outcome of collective action between mining companies and other water users offers the potential to deliver both business and social value, and to advance more sustainable water management.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
water; mining; collaborative partnerships; stakeholder engagement; stewardship; sustainable development
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
MDPI and ACS Style
Fraser, J.; Kunz, N.C. Water Stewardship: Attributes of Collaborative Partnerships between Mining Companies and Communities. Water 2018, 10, 1081. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081081
AMA Style
Fraser J, Kunz NC. Water Stewardship: Attributes of Collaborative Partnerships between Mining Companies and Communities. Water. 2018; 10(8):1081. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081081
Chicago/Turabian StyleFraser, Jocelyn, and Nadja C. Kunz. 2018. "Water Stewardship: Attributes of Collaborative Partnerships between Mining Companies and Communities" Water 10, no. 8: 1081. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081081
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
